Ford Motor Company

REMEMBER to ANSWER these questions (This is a very important part of the interview – to know why you are interested):

List 2-3 reason why you are interested in this industry?

List 2-3 reasons why you are interested in FordMotorCompany?

List 2-3 reasons why you are interested in this position?

  1. Company general info.

Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures and distributes automobiles in 200 markets across six continents. With about 325,000 employees worldwide, our core and affiliated automotive brands include Aston Martin, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercury and Volvo. Our automotive-related services include Ford Motor Credit Company, Genuine Parts & Service and Hertz.

Chairman and CEOWilliam Clay (Bill) Ford Jr.

President, COO, and DirectorJames J. (Jim) Padilla

EVP and CFODonat R. (Don) Leclair

SVP and Chief Marketing Officer; Chairman, Volvo CarsHans-Olov Olsson

SVP, CIO, and Corporate StrategyMarvin W. (Marv) Adams

Company TypePublic (NYSE:F)

Fiscal Year-EndDecember

2005 Sales (mil.)$177,089.0

1-Year Sales Growth3.2%

2005 Net Income (mil.)$2,024.0

1-Year Net Income Growth(42.0%)

2005 Employees300,000

1-Year Employee Growth(7.7%)

  1. Products

Vehicle Brands: Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin

Automotive Service Brands: Ford Credit, Genuine Parts and Services, Motorcraft, Hertz

  1. Focus on

Revenue Management. To address the pricing pressure that exists in the automotive industry, we have employed a customer-focused revenue management strategy to maximize per unit revenue. This strategy is focused on a disciplined approach to utilizing customer demand data – available from many sources, including internet hits, transaction data, customer leads, and research – to help us develop and sell vehicles that more closely match customer desires. We believe our revenue management strategy has contributed significantly to increases in our average net revenue per vehicle sold for our Ford North America business unit of $745 and $729 for 2004 and 2003, respectively.

Product Differentiation and Innovation. Our strategy for product creation includes a strong focus on new technology. This is not, however, limited to developing and introducing breakthrough vehicle technologies, but also can be applied to the total vehicle package. For example, our new Ford F-150 pick-up truck, first introduced as a 2004 model, utilizes more than 130 patented inventions related to performance, utility and styling. This model helped establish a sales record for F-Series pick-up trucks in 2004 with nearly one million units sold. Other differentiating technologies that we have introduced or are working to introduce for general availability are:

• Hybrid powertrains, which use a combination of electric power, generated from onboard batteries that are recharged while driving the vehicle, and a gasoline internal combustion engine. The Ford Escape Hybrid, introduced as a 2004 model, is an example of this technology, and we plan to offer four additional vehicle models with this technology.

• Other alternative fuel vehicles, such as hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines, bio or clean diesel powered vehicles and fuel cells. We believe we are the only automobile manufacturer doing significant development work on all these alternative fuel technologies, as well as hybrid powertrain technologies.

  • Roll Stability Control™ system, which is a computer-controlled system that detects vehicle roll and automatically controls the vehicle to prevent it from rolling over. This is currently standard equipment or is available as an option on most of our SUVs.

• All-aluminum bodies, which reduce the weight of the vehicle, compared with steel bodies, thereby increasing vehicle fuel economy and performance. The current version of the Jaguar XJ, first introduced as a 2004 model, is an example of a vehicle with this technology.

Shared Technologies. One of the strategies we are employing to realize efficiencies in manufacturing, engineering and product costs for new vehicles is to share vehicle architectures, technologies and components among various models and re-use them from one generation of a vehicle model to the next. This is illustrated in our recently launched Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego car models, which are 85% (by value) common, and the Ford Freestyle cross-over model, which shares 65% (by value) of the components used in those aforementioned models. In addition, the architecture for all three of these vehicles is derived from an existing architecture.

  1. In the news

OCT. 13

Ford Chief of Staff leave on October 31st

Ford Motor Co. said Chief of Staff Steven K. Hamp will leave the company on Oct. 31, and with his departure, the post will be eliminated.

Hamp, 58, joined Ford in November after a 27-year career at The Henry Ford, culminating with ten years as its president. The Henry Ford is a national multi-venue historical institution located in Dearborn, Mich.

He has served as an adviser for the executive team, focusing on the coordination and management of the Office of Chairman and CEO, and alignment of the senior management team. He was hired to assist Bill Ford in his day-to-day duties and integrate Ford's strategy into the company's operations.

October 18

First Drive: Ford’s Edge

Ford needs a hit to lift its aging lineup. The all-new Edge crossover offers good looks and decent gas mileage, but the price isn't cheap

Ford executives, reeling from financial and market share declines and in the middle of another phase of restructuring, say the new Ford Edge crossover ute is by far the most important vehicle it will introduce this year. While it represents just one of 23 Ford brand models listed on such sites as Edmunds.com, the success of the Edge will be nothing short of a referendum on whether the struggling company and current management are on the right track.

Ford is also launching an all-new Ford Expedition this fall, as well as a Mustang Shelby GT500 (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/9/06, "American Idol") and an all-wheel-drive version of the Fusion. Among its other brands, Volvo has an all-new S80 sedan and Lincoln is coming out with a crossover utility, the MKX, based on the Edge.

But it's the Edge that's drawing the stares from Wall Street, the media, Ford watchers, and the company's own management. That's because there is nothing more important than shoring up the Ford brand with a solid product that is launched with top-notch marketing.

First Big Move

Following on the successful launch and public reception of the Ford Fusion sedan last year, the Edge represents a "new Ford" that current management is banking on to do nothing less than save the company. It advances a new design theme that will be infused in all the new Fords, and is being brought to market with advertising and marketing meant to be more engaging than Ford's traditional flag-waving communications.

With demand for midsize and large SUVs waning as baby boomers age out of the desire for big, bulky truck-based vehicles, and with everybody wary of the return of high gas prices, Ford is moving to beef up its offerings of passenger cars and lighter so-called crossover utility vehicles that are based on cars instead of pickup-truck platforms. Putting aside the six-year-old Escape, which is more SUV than crossover, the Edge is the first big move by Ford in the growing segment.

Ford is playing catch-up in this segment that its executives say will likely top 3 million units per year by 2010, up from just 500,000 in 2000. Nissan, Toyota, Honda, General Motors, and even Mitsubishi have been ahead of Ford on crossover offerings with models such as the Nissan Murano, Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander, Lexus RX330, Mitsubishi Outlander and Endeavor, Chevy Equinox, and Saturn Vue.

  1. Top Competitors
  • DaimlerChrysler
  • General Motors
  • Toyota

Sources: Company website, Businessweek.com, Hoovers.com